Brevibacillus parabrevis (kindly provided by Mohamed Marahiel, Department of Biochemistry, Philipps-University Marburg), Photorhabdus luminescens laumondii TT01 (Leibniz-Institute-DSMZ; DSM-15139), Delftia acidovorans SPH-1 (Leibniz-Institute-DSMZ; DSM-39) and Escherichia coli BAP1 (kindly provided by Blaine Pfeifer, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Buffalo) were...

We describe a general strategy for selective chemical labeling of individual adenylation (A) domains in nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) using active site-directed proteomic probes coupled to the 5'-O-N-(aminoacyl)sulfamoyladenosine (AMS) scaffold with a clickable benzophenone functionality. These proteomic tools can greatly facilitate the molecular identification, functional characteri...

Background: Aeromonas species are Gram-negative ubiquitous bacteria, facultative anaerobic rods that infect both invertebrates and vertebrates. Various fish species develop hemorrhagic disease and furunculosis due to Aeromonas spp. Aeromonas strains generate certain active compounds such as siderophores, which are the final products of non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) activity. The prese...

Cryptophycins (Crp) are a group of cyanobacterial depsipeptides with activity against drug-resistant tumors. Although they have been shown to be promising, further efforts are required to return these highly potent compounds to the clinic through a new generation of analogues with improved medicinal properties. Herein, we report a chemosynthetic route relying on the multifunctional enzyme CrpD-...

The estuarine genus Pfiesteria has received considerable attention since it was first identified and proposed to be the causative agent of fish kills along the mid-Atlantic coast in 1992. The presumption has been that the mechanism of fish death is by release of one or more toxins by the dinoflagellate. In this report, we challenge the notion that Pfiesteria species produce ichthyotoxins. Speci...

Azinomycin B is a potent antitumor antibiotic that features a set of unusual, densely assembled functionalities. Among them, the 3-methoxy-5-methylnaphthoic acid (NPA) moiety provides an important noncovalent association with DNA, and may, therefore, contribute to the specificity of DNA alkylation for biological activity exhibition. We have previously cloned and sequenced the azinomycin B biosy...

Secondary metabolites (or natural products) are often synthesized by multi-modular, multi-domain proteins called non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS) and polyketide synthases (PKS). Various well-known metabolites produced by microorganisms are listed in Table 1, and examples of structures are shown in Fig. 1. In particular, Streptomyces species are known for their ability to produce a wide ...